PMB is and will always be awful. If you want to save bandwidth then integrate a torrent client into the launcher like many f2p games do if they don't use this terrible service. I would love to have a torrent link instead of PMB installed on my computer for a moment.

I'm curious but I've been playing for a few days and I downloaded/installed Aion without having any Pando Media Booster installed or used. I've been monitoring my network usage and it hasn't been used at all. I don't have it in the installed Programs, there's no control panel...hmm.

Any ideas?
LoL, LotRO, and other games use this damn PMB crapware. All communities hate it yet stupid game companies can't just release a .torrent and be done with it (or a magnet link!).

I could probably add that ncsoft has had a torrent tracker available to serve updates for several years or since the 1.9 launch. The aion user community enjoyed using bittorrent tremendously but ncsoft failed to keep the torrents updated.

Seeing them resort to using pando network bandwidth leecher instead is a really sad turn of events. Whats worse is that pando spams your computer with unwanted advertizing.

The people that will suffer the most from this choice are those that will be unaware of the problem pando is creating until they receive a bandwidth bill from they're ISP. This is mainly as a result of not being able to view what pando is doing to your internet connection silently in the background. Bittorrent doesn't have this high risk problem associated.

I really feel for anyone that ends up running pando on a cellular connection unaware of the consequences. Those people stand to be hit with multiple thousand dollar bandwidth bills.

I was gong to try out Lineage 2 until i saw it required pando. Lineage 2 has been uninstalled entirely to avoid the nuisance pando causes.

I created a bittorrent download from the completed patch files if anyone prefers to download the patch without having to instal pando. It's just new so it will need to be seeded and downloaded by many people for the speed to increase.

These three files were downloaded with pando directly but naturally just like the 1.9 patch fiasco Pando will not work for everyone.

Well, I have to say so far there has been little official response besides: "you can uninstall it after you're done updating but it'll come back the next time you have to." I appreciate all the comments so far! Igniting discussion is what I'd hoped for. The attention this is getting across the forums shows the reality of your actions, NCSoft.

Not surprisingly there are a slew of technical issues already with the 3.0 process and Pando Media Booster as several forum posts suggest. These are all points that have been raised by this thread and other posters. I still stand by them. Low and behold many of my predictions of the problems are already surfacing. How are you going to officially respond?

As this is a suggestion thread, again I have to call on NCSoft to do something bolder than their strategies so far with Pando Media Booster. As some have suggested here you could make it a suggested option that can be chosen to be used OR even implement your own torrent system into the launcher that would close afterwards. These are just simple examples of thinking outside the box. Why hasn't this been done yet? I haven't seen any signs of it.

Thoughts like these are truly acting on the situation rather than deflecting the problems away. Potential customers are struggling with the updating process right now and dealing with a program that messes their system in the long-run. I continue to await for a more productive response from NCSoft.

Until then I look forward to methods like Koriandr has suggested (thanks a lot for the tips by the way!) Koriandr's tip also shows the blatant effect of NCSoft's decision to move to Pando Media Booster. Potential customers are forced to manually tweak files just to play the game in peace. This is the clearest indicator of how ridiculous your decision to move to PMB has been.

is nc soft going to be responsible if this turns into a vector for viruses?

The thing is, if this fails, and ncsoft have substantial evidence that PMB is failing, then the pando networks cop the blame. Depending on their contract (which I personally am curious about), NCsoft could sue pando networks for loss of potential f2p customers.

The thing is, if this fails, and ncsoft have substantial evidence that PMB is failing, then the pando networks cop the blame. Depending on their contract (which I personally am curious about), NCsoft could sue pando networks for loss of potential f2p customers.

Really? Then as a f2p-er, I would like to let NCsoft's lawyers know that I was totally gonna buy a boatload of CUBES once I could get them immediately after the 3.0 launch, but since I can't even download PMB successfully, I can't play the game, and will make no purchase. Though I guess NCsoft is saving bandwidth by my not playing so there's that.

Just wondering, did anyone out there put down big money on CUBES just to be similarly denied entry to the game and acces to their contents by the buggy pmb/launcher issue?

1. Turn the software off using Task Manager
2a. Remove it from your startup list: Run > msconfig
2b. You can turn off the option that turns on the software on OS startup through its options: Control Panel > Pando Media Booster

I am using Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and I no longer have latency issues.
Have fun playing AION!

Regards,
Nerlon

( I personally like Pando Media Booster because it allows me to download patches MUCH faster )